Neither was Francesca.
He hadn’t once thought his parents would accept anyone that wouldn’t help grow Avce’s power. Francesca certainly didn’t but Anna Camila? “You want me to marry mysecretary?”
His mother nodded her regal head. “At every event for the past year, where she has been at your side, your manner and behavior is above reproach.”
“What happened to making a match that brings a contract or treaty to Avce?”
“Your two sisters handled that for us, protecting our small nation,” his father said.
His mother folded her arms. “You’re running out of time. Ask Anna. At least I like Anna Camila.”
Interesting. This must have been his parents’ plan—they knew very well the clock was ticking. They didn’t approve of Francesca, and had offered a solution that he might not have considered.
All that was missing was Anna. Was she in on it? No. Yet for all he knew, she might have a boyfriend who ran a shipping company in Avce, or worse, a man who operated a ski chalet.
The thought of Anna with a cocky ski instructor made his body grow cold. He bowed and said, “Let’s ask her then, right now.”
His parents descended the stairs of the dais together. Once they reached the bottom, his mother cupped his face and said, “You can talk to her alone.”
Today made no sense and his parents were mistaken if they thought he and Anna would match.
Anna had a way of staring through him until he capitulated because she thought he was better than he was. A lifetime of expectation might be too hard to handle when no one, not even his parents, expected anything of him.
He kept his head high. She’d say no. And when she said no, then they needed to let him make his own mistakes. He shook his head and motioned toward the door. “No. As she was the group choice, let’s have you both there to hear her answer.”
He strode down the vaulted halls of the palace, hemmed in by portraits of his ancestors all dressed in black, each with penetrating eyes.
He turned and climbed a wide stairwell leading to his wing of the palace, the red carpet quieting their steps. Normally, his heart calmed by this point of his journey after being dismissed from the throne room, but not today. His belly burned with fire.
Perhaps Francesca wasn’t a lady like his mother, but his mistakes were supposed to be his own and not a reflection against ancestors from the Roman Empire.
In his almost thirty years, he’d never assumed once that his parents, his royal parents, would suggest a peasant. If he’d have thought they’d bend this much, he might have held out for love—or something like that.
His mind swirled as they neared his office door. Why would they approve of Anna but not Francesca?
Leo peeked into his office.
Anna’s brown eyes shone with intelligence behind her black-framed spectacles she wore to read his mail. She laughed at his dry commentary that most people didn’t get.
And unlike most women, he was easy and himself with her.
Her uniform of choice was a black knee-length pencil skirt, a button-down shirt, pearls around her neck, her hair tied up in a tight bun, and no makeup at all.
He’d never seen her in anything else. He pushed open the door fully and she was right where he’d left her, at her desk, in front of her desktop computer, typing away on a document.
He heard theshwishsound of the printer, and cleared his throat.
Her brown eyes widened and she jumped out of her seat to curtsy as his parents followed him into his office, their blue and gold attire flashing.
His father pressed his hand on his chest like this was a formal meeting and she was his equal as he said, “Anna Camila.”
She didn’t end her curtsy. “Yes, Your Highness?”
Leo tapped her shoulder to get her to straighten up and a spark rushed in his veins. He’d touched her before, but never felt this. Of course, he hadn’t considered marrying her before now. He put his arms to his side the moment she stood and glanced at him. He said, “My father believes you’ll make me an excellent queen one day. Do you want the job?”
She blinked. Anna lost all the color in her face as she raised her eyebrow and asked, “What job? I don’t understand.”
Perhaps if he’d thought Anna was a possibility in the past, he’d have at least glanced at her full lips. Would they be sweet? He’d been shocked by his father’s suggestion and still wasn’t sure so he pivoted toward his parents. “Father…”
